The beer industry is making a massive change to promote nutrition

On Tuesday, the hugely
influential Beer Institute announced an
initiative to encourage companies to display information such
as calories, carbohydrates, and alcohol by volume on all beverage
labels. The organization's members include Anheuser-Busch,
MillerCoors, and the Craft Brew Alliance, and they produce more
than 81% of all beer, by volume, sold in the US.

The initiative additionally
encourages beer makers to disclose beverage ingredients on labels
or in secondary packaging or websites, and note a date of
production to ensure freshness.

The Beer Institute said consumers
can expect to see new labels in the marketplace immediately.
Brewers and importers are encouraged to revamp
packaging across product lines by the end of 2020.

"I applaud the Beer Institute for
encouraging its members to include valuable consumer
information," Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of Health and
Human Services, said in a statement. "American consumers are more
informed than ever, and they want to know about the food and
beverages that they are eating and drinking."

While in-depth nutrition labels
are the norm in the wider food and beverage
industry, alcoholic beverages typically include far less
information. In 2013, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau
ruled the brewerscouldinclude further nutritional information on
labels,but did not make these
mandatory.

However, in recent years,
transparency has been one of consumers' top priorities, and both
the government and companies have been taking notice.